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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Upcycled Easter Baskets

I am fully convinced that many decorative household items are given away because they are an ugly color and people can't see past that.

Such was the case for the first Easter basket in this post. It looked ugly because, the decorative metal edging and chicken wire were painted black.

To give the basket a new lease on life, I spray painted an Antique White. The basket came with three tin pots which I elected to leave just the way they were.

Add in some pansies and a rusted Easter bunny silhouette and suddenly the whole thing

looks vintage and rather pretty.

This next project started with a lined wicker basket that I got at a charity shop for just under a dollar. Charity shops are a great place to find old ceramic containers and baskets that were once used for floral arrangements.

The only thing the basket needed in this case was a few flowers.

To make this next arrangement I used:

• 3 small pots of mini-daffodils

• a small pot of green ivy

• sheet moss

• yellow ribbon

• bird's nest

• 3 candy or plastic eggs

• 2 birds

• hot glue and glue gun

• a couple of tooth picks

Directions:

Remove the daffodils from their plastic pots and place them in the wicker basket.

Fill in where needed with a bit of trailing green ivy.

Cover any visible soil with pieces of the green sheet moss.

Chip on the first little bird to the basket handle.

Use hot glue to attach the second bird and some eggs to the bird's nest. Using a couple of tooth picks, attach the nest to the moss.

Add a bow.

This final basket was again a sinister shade of black, so I spray painted it Antique White.

To make this next arrangement I used:

• wire basket

• a bottle (or glass vase)

• green sheet moss

• pink hydrangea flowers

• several pieces of green ivy

• pink ribbon

Directions:

Place a bottle in the centre of the wire basket (you could use a small glass vase just as well). Place large pieces of the green more sheet moss around the outside of the bottle to hold the bottle in place. The moss also helps to disguise the container/ bottle for your flowers.

Add the flowers, trailing pieces of ivy making sure they are in the water.